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2008 amendments
to the constitution of russia |
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the
amendments of 2008, which were proposed in november 2008 and came
into force on 31 december 2008, have become the first substantial
amendments to the constitution of russia of 1993 and extended the
terms of the president of russia and the state duma from four to six
and five years, respectively. earlier only minor adjustments
concerning the naming of the federal subjects or their merging were
made, which require a much simpler procedure.
president dmitry medvedev, who succeeded vladimir putin earlier that
year, made that brief proposal during his first annual address to
the federal assembly on 5 november 2008:
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[w]e should
increase the constitutional mandates of the president and state
duma to six and five years respectively.
these issues have been raised repeatedly since the 1990s.
discussions on these subjects have gone on for a long time. many
have made reference to history, which abounds with examples of
democratic countries changing the terms and mandates of their
state bodies.
i will not list all of these examples. these cases are well
known. what i want to say is that we are not talking about
constitutional reform but about adjustments to the constitution,
about adjustments that are important but are nonetheless no more
than clarifications and do not change the political and legal
essence of the current institutions. these adjustments provide
rather an additional resource for the institutions' stable work.
there is no place for a 'reforming itch' with regard to the
constitution. the constitution is effective, it works, and its
basic provisions should remain unchanged for many years to come.
civic rights and freedoms, the nation抯 sovereignty, the state
system and federal organisation, the organisation principles of
the judicial system and local self-government, and the other
foundations of our constitutional order have been set for a
long-term historical period. as the guarantor of the
constitution, i will preserve and protect these fundamental
provisions. |
the
change does not apply retroactively and should
not affect the current
terms of the president and the state duma and will take effect for
the next time. as of 2008, the articles 81.1 and 96.1 of the
constitution of 1993 stipulated that the president and the state
duma should be elected for a term of four years. according to the
articles 136 and 108, amendments to the provisions of chapters 3-8,
including the articles 81 and 96, require the same approval as a
federal constitutional law, that is, a two-thirds supermajority vote
in the state duma and a three-fourths supermajority vote in the
federation council, and come into force as they have passed the
legislatures of no less than two thirds of the 83 federal subjects.
the president formally submitted the bill to the state duma on 11
november. the state duma, dominated by pro-government parties after
the election of 2007, swiftly approved the proposal in the three
required readings on 14 november (388 in favor/58 against), 19
november (351 in favor/57 against) and 21 november (392 in favor/57
against). of the four parties represented in the state duma, only
the communist party, represented by 57 members of parliament,
opposed the bill. the united russia, liberal democratic party and
fair russia all supported the bill. on november 26 the federation
council approved the bill with 144 votes in favor and one against.
by 18 december the legislatures of all 83 federal subjects of russia
had approved the amendments. the federation council reviewed and
accepted the approvals on 22 december and on 30 december president
medvedev signed them into law. the amendments came into force on 31
december 2008.
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the
constitutional process |
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